Mamdani got a humanities degree. His win helps to illustrate that one of the central forces driving higher ed’s dissolution of the humanities is the fear that teaching people how power works can also lead to their interest in seizing it on behalf of the less powerful.

Dick Cheney dies, Zohran Mamdani wins, a beaver moon shines in the sky… I just know the Etsy witches have been busy.

There are more of us than there are of them.

Lana Lin has a new essay (about archives and appendices) at @lareviewofbooks.bsky.social!

Don't miss today's episode with poet extraordinaire @robincostelewis.bsky.social about Archive of Desire: A Poem in Four Parts for C.P. Cavafy. We look across her 3 books, across time from Ancient Greece to modern Alexandria, across her life and Cavafy's Audio📻🔥: tinhouse.com/podcast/robi...

Fully funded! I love this book and am so happy more people will have a chance to read it.

Before our summer holiday in Wales, with mountains and hydrangeas in mind, she laid in so many tubes of cobalt, ultra-marine, and cerulean that I, too young to have any geographical notions as to where we were going, knew for a certainty that Wales would be blue. #SundaySentence SylviaTownsendWarner

On DHS’s unauthorized use of Norman Rockwell’s paintings across social media, an op-ed from our family today in @usatoday.com www.usatoday.com/story/opinio...

Reading The Frog in the Throat by Markus Werner, translated from the German by Michael Hofmann. @nyrb-imprints.bsky.social

“Tell me,” he yawned, for he felt ready for a nap now himself, “does everyone here do nothing?” “Everyone but the terrible watchdog,” said two of them, shuddering in chorus. “He’s always sniffing around to see that nobody wastes time. A most unpleasant character.”

I haven't written much fiction, but this is one of the few short stories I've managed to write. I want to get that 'voice' back in my head. sublunaryeditions.com/magazine/alw...

There are a lot of things I should do today. But I’ve decided not to do them. Getting cozy with this one instead.

Getting very close to goal. Be the Giono lover you want to see more of in your life!

Over on Reddit, there is a post that's basically "I keep reading Scalzi and I keep not liking what he writes, why do I do this to myself" and my answer to this is, dude, I don't know but you have my permission to stop, life is short and there are many authors, find one whose work you can love

❤️

"We’re following our hearts and minds...finding a balance so we don’t inadvertently publish titles that are too similar.” Out now: @rachellayown.bsky.social's interview with @allisonwoodnutt.bsky.social of Smith & Taylor Classics at @unnamedpress.bsky.social. chireviewofbooks.com/2025/10/31/i...

I adopted a capybara. A student suggested that it can be my emotional support capybara. As he leaned across me for another handful of Halloween candy. 🎃

Halloween storytime all day on repeat. Throw in a lot of candy. Happy Halloween (aka theatre kid Christmas) to all who celebrate!! 👻 🎃

upcoming books in English translation I found online

Look, Sylvia Townsend Warner is amazing. Don't sleep on this, or on Lolly Willowes which is very seasonally appropriate!

The Corner That Held Them is a wonderful, mesmerizing book. My second-favorite novel about a convent.

Through the mail slot today. Four from @archipelagobooks.bsky.social plus print copy of a regular read. I’m moving away from as many digital subscriptions.

Fund a reprint of Giono's The Serpent of Stars by Archipelago Books. @archipelagobooks.bsky.social secure.givelively.org/donate/archi...

In this on-the-go episode, @mookse.bsky.social and I take the podcast out for a walk. Trevor reflects on how he's lost 40 pounds and discovered ways to bring books into every part of his daily rhythm. From audiobooks on walks to reading as recovery, we explore making reading a full-body experience.

Your turn! Post 4 female characters you love.

Found today. Family History by Vita Sackville-West and Memoirs of a Fox-hunting Man by Siegfried Sassoon.

“SEA NOW is one of several novels that ask how humans live in an apocalypse that isn’t impending but has actually arrived.” Read Rebecca Hussey on Eva Meijer’s SEA NOW (tr. Anne Thompson Melo): buff.ly/ZtpAsrS @ofbooksandbikes.bsky.social @catranslation.org @twolinespress.com

On a Very Special Episode of @onebrightbook.bsky.social I’m joined by @rohanmaitzen.bsky.social to talk about William Makepeace Thackeray’s wonderful VANITY FAIR onebrightbook.com/2025/10/28/b...

My review of SEA, NOW is up at @wwborders.bsky.social wordswithoutborders.org/book-reviews...

A FICTIONAL INQUIRY—"an investigation into the nature of fiction itself and its entanglements with reality"—praised in Reading in Translation. "You must prepare for . . . sudden epiphanies and equally unexpected silences,for precise, diamond-sharp images." readingintranslation.com/2025/10/27/d...

Saw it in 35mm tonight. So worth it to enjoy it in this format, on a big screen, with a very large and appreciative audience. Gorgeous.

Thinking about teaching informational writing to kids in a week or so. How they are often led away from well-intentioned anchor charts or organizers to write what is creative fiction. Then I pulled this out and started rereading. And now I’m no longer planning. Thinking of so many other things.

Feeding America has a page where you can input your zip code and it'll show you all of the food banks near you overlaid on a map. If you need it, it's there. If you don't need it, think about donating money if you have it and your time if you don't. www.feedingamerica.org/find-your-lo...

One must laugh. Sometimes.

It’s pozole season! Trying to decide what type to make first. I do love this shrimp version in the Rancho Gordo Pozole Cookbook. But the others in my house also love the traditional pork recipe.

Maybe you’ll like the episode as much as Darby did. If you listen. onebrightbook.com/2025/10/03/e...

I keep a list of mysteries that people have recommended. Vague memory of this one coming from a book I read by @martinedwardsbooks.bsky.social. Found this used copy. Thought it was a British Library Crime Classic. It’s not. But I’m going to read it right now anyway.

A few years ago, seemingly on a whim, @ofbooksandbikes.bsky.social and @ds228.bsky.social and I started a podcast. And it’s been a tremendous amount of fun. Today’s zippy conversation was a celebration. Of our friendship and shared loves of literature. ❤️

Starting The Queen of Swords by Jazmina Barrera, translated from the Spanish by Christina MacSweeney. @twolinespress.com @catranslation.org

Soon! In 35mm! ❤️

Ay me! I see the ruin of my house

"Trauma Porn, where emotional catharsis is conflated with literary worth; performative vulnerability is miscast as authenticity; therapeutic processing services the reader, and confession becomes a public good ..." The Ruse of Trauma Porn & the Fictional “I” minorliteratures.com/2025/10/19/t...

Big weekend for heist nerds.

I am looking for more good things. Samin Nosrat and her team are dropping welcome missives in my inbox every week. Worth subscribing for a dopamine hit that seems less… wrong. Maybe for you, maybe not. Take a look? open.substack.com/pub/ciaosami...

"I wanted to face what's called reality with my eyes open." #SundaySentence Beasts, Joyce Carol Oates

One more time…

“Better the Almighty Dollar than a tub of rancid guts labeled King.” - Mark Twain

Becca Rothfeld on Francesca Wade's big new bio of Gertrude Stein. "Wade takes the Steinian persona and the Steinian corpus equally seriously" in a book that is "marvelous, funny and frequently moving." www.washingtonpost.com/books/2025/1...